We Speak College Football
No. 12 Ole Miss Must Beat Auburn Without Its Star Running Back to Keep Playoff Hopes Alive
The Grove will be stirring before lunch on Halloween, and No. 12 Ole Miss (5-2, 3-2 SEC) will be trying to protect the longest active home winning streak in the Power Four without its best offensive weapon. Auburn (4-3) visits Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. ET on SEC Network, the first meeting between the old SEC West rivals since 2023.
The headline news is an absence. Star running back Kewan Lacy has been ruled out with a shoulder injury, a major blow to a Rebels offense that ran for a season-high 257 yards in its 31-3 rout of Missouri two weeks ago, when Lacy and Makhi Frazier both topped 100 yards and quarterback Trinidad Chambliss accounted for four touchdowns. Ole Miss returns home off a 34-27 loss at Texas, and with No. 3 Georgia coming to Oxford next week, a second straight defeat would all but end the Rebels’ Playoff hopes. Ole Miss has won 15 straight at home, and head coach Pete Golding has never lost in this stadium.
Auburn, though, is the last team the Rebels wanted to see. The Tigers own the season’s most stunning result, a 27-24 upset of then-No. 1 Georgia in Athens behind quarterback Byrum Brown, and they are dangerous precisely because they are unpredictable: the week after toppling Georgia, they were run out by LSU, 38-17.
The matchup that decides it is Ole Miss’s reshuffled run game against an Auburn front that has already frustrated the best team in the country. If the Rebels can run it well enough to keep Chambliss comfortable, their home streak survives its toughest test. If Auburn makes another ranked host one-dimensional, Oxford could see its second stunner of the season.
Kickoff: Saturday, October 31, 12:45 p.m. ET. TV: SEC Network. Venue: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford, Miss.
Halloween Under the Lights in Ames: No. 24 Oklahoma State’s Air Show Meets a Desperate Iowa State
Battle Line Under the Lights: No. 23 Missouri’s Streak Meets an Arkansas Team With Nothing to Lose
No. 19 SMU Takes the ACC Race on the Road to a Syracuse Team Fresh Off an Overtime Escape
Unbeaten No. 7 UCLA Closes Its Homestand Against a Nevada Defense Built to Bother People
No. 11 Texas Tries to Keep Its Surge Going as Wounded Mississippi State Visits Austin
The Nation’s Best Scoring Defense Hits the Road: 6-1 New Mexico Puts Its Mountain West Lead on the Line at San José State
Army’s Nation-Best Ground Game Meets Memphis’ 509-Yard Offense in an American Title Eliminator
On the Blue Turf, No. 20 Boise State’s Playoff Path Runs Through Texas State’s Track Team
We Speak College Football
Halloween Under the Lights in Ames: No. 24 Oklahoma State’s Air Show Meets a Desperate Iowa State
Iowa State gets its first night game of the season at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, and the opponent is the Big 12’s most entertaining surprise. No. 24 Oklahoma State (5-2, 3-1 Big 12) visits the Cyclones (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) at 7:00 p.m. ET on FS1, with Halloween in Ames as the backdrop.
Almost nobody saw Oklahoma State coming. The Cowboys lost their opener to Tulsa, and first-year head coach Eric Morris — who brought quarterback Drew Mestemaker and running back Caleb Hawkins with him from North Texas — has gone 5-1 since, the only other loss a three-point game at Houston. Mestemaker has been one of the best quarterbacks in the country: 65.7 percent completions, 2,326 passing yards (second-most in the FBS), 20 touchdowns against six interceptions. Oklahoma State averages 40.0 points and 529.1 yards per game, and just hung 598 yards on Colorado in a 57-24 win that put the Cowboys back in the AP Top 25 after a one-week absence.
Iowa State’s week has been about a decision. After playing two quarterbacks in a 39-3 loss to Arizona, head coach Jimmy Rogers announced Tuesday that Jaylen Raynor will start. Raynor has started every game this season, going 93-of-158 for 1,107 yards, seven touchdowns and four interceptions, with 145 rushing yards and three scores on the ground. The Cyclones need three more wins to reach bowl eligibility, and their path runs through home: their only loss in Ames came against Utah, and their last home game was a 45-42 shootout win over West Virginia.
History gives Iowa State a real argument. The Cyclones won the last two meetings, 20-13 in Stillwater last season and 34-27 in Ames in 2023, though Oklahoma State leads the all-time series 34-22-3. The deciding matchup is Mestemaker against an Iowa State defense allowing 24.1 points per game: if the Cyclones can slow the Cowboys’ tempo and make this a fourth-quarter game, the crowd and the moment give them a shot. If Oklahoma State gets to 40 again, the ranking survives and the Big 12 race keeps its wildest story.
Kickoff: Saturday, October 31, 7:00 p.m. ET. TV: FS1. Venue: Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, Iowa.
Battle Line Under the Lights: No. 23 Missouri’s Streak Meets an Arkansas Team With Nothing to LoseNo. 19 SMU Takes the ACC Race on the Road to a Syracuse Team Fresh Off an Overtime EscapeUnbeaten No. 7 UCLA Closes Its Homestand Against a Nevada Defense Built to Bother PeopleNo. 11 Texas Tries to Keep Its Surge Going as Wounded Mississippi State Visits AustinThe Nation’s Best Scoring Defense Hits the Road: 6-1 New Mexico Puts Its Mountain West Lead on the Line at San José StateArmy’s Nation-Best Ground Game Meets Memphis’ 509-Yard Offense in an American Title EliminatorOn the Blue Turf, No. 20 Boise State’s Playoff Path Runs Through Texas State’s Track Team
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